NEDA (National End-of-Life Doula Alliance)

The National End-of-Life Doula Alliance is a national alliance of end-of-life advocates working to ensure compassionate, inclusive and dignified care for all. NEDA brings together practitioners and trainers who support individuals and families during life's final transition, with a mission built on connection, education and collective action.

What makes NEDA institutional is its credentialing apparatus. It publishes the field's core competencies for end-of-life doulas and for after-death companions (ADC educators have their own competency set and study guide outlines), assesses proficiency through its EOLD Proficiency Badge, maintains a code of ethics and a scope of practice, and tracks Medicare conditions of participation. Its directories let families find a doula or a doula trainer, and corporations and organizations can join as friends of NEDA.

The alliance runs webinars and events, a resource library, and research and best-practice publishing, and its board-led structure with strategic plan and inclusivity statements gives the young profession its standards body. For end-of-life doulas, NEDA membership is the professional marker. The institution's stated mission: Connecting and empowering end-of-life professionals.